Afternoon Drive with Xolani Gwala

The Gauteng provincial government announced on Tuesday that it plans to sell the properties it owns.

This follows an undertaking made by Premier David Makhura earlier this year, to consider the future of the province's non-core assets after the audit of the Department of Infrastructure Development was competed.

The Premier of the province has taken a lead in saying to all of us that if the properties of government are underutilized, they are surplus to service delivery, we're not getting value for money, they're not in line with our priorities, those must be disposed of

— Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development

Speaking on 702's #NightTalk, Infrastructure Development MEC Jacob Mamabolo has described the plan for the provincial government to sell its properties as groundbreaking, and says that it sets the government's agenda for the coming years.

We came to the determination as provincial government that we're not getting any value out of these properties, they're not part of our core business, they however have a bearing on our revenue because we have to maintain them

— Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development

Mamabolo says that there have been issues about the Premier's official residence and other residential properties of the provincial government.

He says some of these properties were not properly maintained, which increased expenses for the provincial government and communities.

At the end of the day, they are not supporting government's service delivery programme

— Jacob Mamabolo, Gauteng MEC for Infrastructure Development

Mamabolo says that 31 properties belonging to the provincial government have been identified to be sold through auction by the end of December.

He says that the Premier's residence will also be added to this list of properties.